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What would Kalista's Judgment be like?

CupcakeTrap·11/20/2014, 6:01:17 PM·14 votes·6,110 views

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100917003131/leagueoflegends/images/9/98/Institute_of_War.jpg

I'm curious to see what the lore community thinks about how Kalista's Judgment might go. What's the essence of her personality that would come out? What would she make of the League's member-states? Does she have a sense for more than personal vengeance? What nations have been betrayed? Can she sense all the betrayals and backroom assassinations that have taken place in the Institute's halls? Or has she been drawn in by the other Champions, whether those who have been betrayed or those who have themselves committed treasonous acts?

What about her backstory? What we have so far is that she was from the ancient days of the Shadow Isles, when "everything went wrong," and that she was some kind of great military leader. How might that play into it? How does she view the current masters of the Isles?

What about her personality? She seems pretty inhuman so far, but there are hints of her human personality that still remain. Externally, she's all "VENGEANCE!", but what's still inside her, if anything?

How much internal cohesion does she have? Would her Judgment bring out Kalista herself, or would she just be another bit of soulstuff among an enormous jumble of vengeful souls? Would they even be able to sense the "original" Kalista anymore?

Some initial thoughts:

  • She's scary. She is going to freak the hell out of whatever poor sod gets stuck with looking into her mind. There are lots of scary Champions, but she makes a "living" out of reaching into the darkest thoughts of others. She'll almost certainly rifle through the Summoner's mind.
  • She's more a bundle of souls than a single being now. It'd probably be hard to find Kalista herself. (But I'm not sure about this: the other obvious concept would be to have her own soul as a luminous anchor for the others. But I really like the idea that she's become a voice for the voiceless, and anyone looking into "her" thoughts is likely to get pulled into others' stories.)
  • She can sense all the betrayal and deception that's taken place in the Institute's halls.
  • What's her alignment vis-a-vis the Isles themselves? For various reasons, I think it'd be good to make her legitimately "SI" rather than anti-SI like Maokai, but that might take a little slanting. The Isles are full of betrayed souls, and the souls of betrayers; she might speak for the vengeful dead in the forum of the League.
  • The League probably entices her somewhat, because it's super-charged with magic and packed full of neurotic Champions half of whom have some sort of betrayal element to them, and because of all the callous duplicity of politics, but in the end she views it all with some measure of contempt. She'll come to fight from time to time, but she's not one of those Champions for whom the League is a major part of their story. That would need to come through.
  • Idea, with hat-tip to Narasimha. So far, it's been assumed that once someone takes the oath, Kalista goes and gives them their vengeance, npnp: nobody can stop her. Well, what if someone did? What if she failed? What if she attacked the betrayer, but they proved so powerful that she lost the fight, and failed to uphold her end of the deal? What if it hurt her somehow, threatened to break her apart into chaotic bits of vengeance-stuff? That might be a good moment of story progression that would lead her to seek greater strength. So she goes to the League to fight against Valoran's mightiest Champions, to gain the power she needs to keep her oath. The broader context of the League might prove a troubling backdrop for her, as she sees betrayal on a worldwide scale. Could she avenge an entire nation?
  • Might there not be another force at work here? So far, she interacts with people pretty much exclusively in the form of her spear-oath. A mind-link with a Summoner would expose her to "ordinary" human (or yordle, or whatever) thought again. That would be pretty interesting to see. I toyed around with something like that involving Renekton and a naive young Summoner in Against Apocalypse. It very much risks being "too cute", but it can be illuminating to thrust a Champion into a new headspace, forcing them to be a little more multidimensional.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I may well be writing something like this for Factions—we've never yet done a lore update simultaneous with a Champion's entrance to the League, but this is the first Champion since the Great Retcon, and maybe it's time. (If I do end up using ideas from this thread, I will of course provide due attribution.) But right now, I'm mostly just asking from a general story perspective.

39 Comments

Athenes Lulu11/21/2014, 5:22:37 AM8 votes

She would make a perfect canididate to be in the League, only if IoW still existed...

What a perfect opportunity to make better stories (and judgments?). Too bad the crappy lore team retconned the IoW.

cshakes12/1/2014, 3:01:00 PM5 votes

OBSERVATION

Kalista strides into the chamber with measured, purposeful strides. There are spectral spears piercing her sternum, letting the ghostly green glow of her body shine through her armor. It is hard to tell whether the hair coming form her helmet is hers or from some sacrificial animal. She looks emaciated.

The truest opponent lies within

Kalista pauses at the door, no emotion gracing her face. She looks around for a handle, comes up with nothing, then hesitantly places her palm on the marble. She minutely raises one eyebrow when the doors swing open.

She walks into the darkness without hesitation.

REFLECTION

They were... torn apart. First went the most recent addition to them, screaming the tale of her betrayal. Then the next. And the next. And the next. One by one, until only Kalista herself was left.

It was ... lonely.

Suddenly, it wasn't dark anymore. She was in her body in life, leader of the Queen's bodyguards.

She was at the Queen's bedside. The Queen was dying. This was what had started it all.

The Queen coughed weakly. Her vibrant personality had been flattened by disease. Her vitality was gone. Kalista was aware of the déjà-vu when she thought that she was looking at someone already dead.

The Queen removed her hand from her mouth. There was blood on it.

"Why do you want to join the League, Kalista?" she asked in her now-raspy voice. Even now, frailty could not claim her.

"I seek to avenge the betrayed." It was odd, to speak without echoing, after so long.

The Queen looked up at her. "You never were betrayed."

Kalista was ripped from the Queen's bedside.

Now, she was in the King's rooms, in a meeting she'd known would change everything.

"The Queen is dead", she said. She remained standing at the precipice. There were not many people in the room. There seldom were, when truly consequential decisions were made.

The King sat on his throne. To his right, the Warden of the grounds. In front of him, the man who'd promised to cure his wife, encased in a suit of metal. Completing the circle, the head of cavalry and the Princess.

The warlock turned his attention back to the King. "There is still one hope for her yet."

Kalista tried to shout. No words came out. There wouldn't have been a use, anyway. The King was lost in his grief, wanting to undo everything. The Queen had refused the warlock's aid in life, but in death, she could not object.

The Warden volunteered as the chain between life and afterlife.

Kalista turned and ran. If the Queen's wishes were not to be respected, then save her the humiliation of her most loyal bodyguard participating. She ran out to the palace grounds.

The palace shook. The ground trembled. A wail burst forth. A chill ran down Kalista's spine.

Then, the world turned a ghastly green. The air turned the smell of death and decay. The wind stopped. Kalista stopped.

She felt just as empty as the first time she'd lived this through.

She stood for a small eternity until the King came, steps stuttering, terror in his eyes.

"She... was right", he said. "She never came back. May she forgive me."

Anger. Kalista clenched her hand around her spear, and drove it through the King. She saw the life drain from his eyes.

As he had betrayed the Queen, Kalista had failed him. There was nothing here for her. She took her spear and plunged it into her sternum once. Twice. Thrice. She died. Unfortunately, she also came back.

"How does it feel, exposing your mind?" the King asked.

Kalista reached out with her mind. The souls of the betrayed came to her, one by one.

"We seek vengeance. There are many traitors here." Their echo was back.

"Welcome to the League, Spear of Vengeance", the young summoner said, a tremor in his voice.

Diahane11/21/2014, 3:31:39 PM4 votes

My guesses for Kalista's past are that she was a valiant and important figure in the Shadow Isles before they got spooky, then she learnt one way or another about the Ruined King's plan and realized the tragedy it would bring; trying to stop his plan in its tracks, she was confronted and betrayed by Hecarim, probably a knight or officer of some sort at the service of the King. He held probably a position similar to Kalista or maybe was a trusted subordinate but he stayed loyal to his sire despite Kalista's warnings and maybe pulled an "order 66" on her, thus the betrayal. He may even had previously implied that he would help her, but in the end his loyalty lied elsewhere.

For a Judgment, I'd go, unsurprisingly, for a mosaic. Over time she's become a conglomerate of souls, so I'd insert some very brief and various moments of betrayals seen from the POV of the betrayed and with Kalista's figure overlaying on the victim's. Each betrayal would be set in different time and places and there could be some which are actually an incoherent mix of elements, like someone stabbed by someone belonging to a time prior, because betrayals repeat themselves and in Kalista's mind they get smeared and fused together. In particular, death coming by backstabs would be repeated the most, the aspect of the betrayed and the setting around him/her gradually swirling until finally the scene is Kalista becoming a pin cushion for spears in the Shadow Isles, with the Ruined King's ritual looming in the distance (or near, what fits the most).

As a reason for her to be in the League, she could be there as a mean to fulfil a contract of hers. Maybe someone asked for an IoW's higher-up to be punished and the only way for her to tread on the IoW's facility is to be a sanctioned champion. Otherwise, it could be that she's being called by some summoners to achieve vengeance, but part of the vengeance the contractor seeks has to pass through the FoJs, so she has to get approved by the League.

RaptorAttacks11/20/2014, 9:39:19 PM4 votes

Is it just me, or is there something bigger to Kalista and the Black Mist other than "Spirit Avenger Ghost Lady" and "Fog Full of Demons". I mean, look at The Pledge, a Kalista "Teaser", if you would. Kalista is clearly connected to the Black Mist in one way or another, it cannot just be Riot saying "Oh, we need something to make the video SPOOKY... I got it, MIST!" (but judging by Riot's lore department that could just be it, amirite? No? Ok...). I mean, even Kalista herself has just a very foggy/misty/vision-blocking-cloudy feel. I don't know, maybe I'm digging a bit too deep or whatever, but I could see The Black Mist just being Kalista, and people just assuming that its actually a horde of monsters because... you know, its hard to see. You can't really tell. I mean, in the early teaser that I don't have a link for, Hecarim jumps out of the mist, but since the boat crashed into the Shadow Isles minutes later, maybe he was just... sitting on a rock or something.

Or, slightly more plausible/unplausible, Kalista is the "controller" of the Black Mist, and all the other Spooky Monsters just hitch a ride.

TOO LONG - DIDN'T OCTOPUS: Kalista and the Black Mist have symbolism, be it being the Black Mist, and Controlling the Black Mist. Or maybe I'm just a big stupid head.

XalkXolc11/21/2014, 1:52:23 AM4 votes

I think there a few factors that are most important for a League Judgement:

  1. Kalista's motivations for joining the League

  2. The reliving of Kalista's past and her reactions to the visions

  3. "How does it feel, exposing you mind?"

  4. I think the best reason for Kalista to join the League would be to investigate the League itself. After all, she's been established as patient and determined: I think she's more than willing to put in the time to acquire influence in the League in order to exact vengeance. Furthermore, it's been established that Champions cannot die. So, in effect, joining the League is the only way for Kalista to punish traitorous Champions, and do so repeatedly, at that. I think that if Kalista were asked, "Why do you want to join the League of Legends?", she would probably respond with something along the lines of, "To punish the treasonous, to see traitors brought to justice, and to avenge the betrayed." If pressed further, she could wind up putting something more personal forward, i.e., "To avenge our deaths." (Judgements, now with more badassery!) Edit: Kalista could also want to join b/c of a high exposure rate = more clients, more clients = more souls.

  5. This is very open-ended, with a lot of potential for different stories. A good starting point is whether we want to depict Kalista's origin, or a failure in her line of work. Personally, I think that most people have a pretty good picture of what Kalista's origin could look like, and the whole "failure" idea presents an opportunity to explore her personality. I think Kalista could also get unexpectedly emotional during her Judgement, as it becomes clear that the League can even pry open the mind of the spirit of vengeance. However, I think these things should mostly be decided by the actual writers of the Judgement. No pressure, CCT.

  6. Ooooooh, man. This has always provided a great chance for badass statements, and I think Kalista would probably say something like, "Like being stabbed in the back again." Cut to a zoomed in shot of her face, cue chills up my spine.

Welp, that's my two cents...or dollars, given the wall of text up there. Anyway, good luck to the lore team (not Riot's. I'm rather unhappy with them right now.), and if you have any questions, you know where to find me.

LordHippoman11/20/2014, 9:46:22 PM3 votes

This is kind of a weird idea, but I always liked when the League came off as scheming and a little underhanded. Perhaps someone, a high summoner like Vessaria Kolminye, for example, could fake the summoning ritual, and when Kalista appears, entrap her? If that makes her come off as too weak, perhaps have the summoners blackmail her with some details about her past, or talk her into fighting in the League to keep better tabs on the traitors and decievers within (There are a ton.)

CupcakeTrap11/20/2014, 7:02:23 PM3 votes

OOOOOOOH. Stealing from CrazedPorcupine here. What if she and (say) her son ended up on opposing sides. And he betrayed her for her "treason" against the Ruined King?

http://www.anselm.edu/academic/history/hdubrulle/Nationalism/archival%20material/graphics/David%20Brutus.jpg

Maybe she was sentenced to death, but being a Champion, she broke out of her bonds with her superhuman strength and attacked her executioners, explaining all the spears in her back. Heck, she might even have done that thing where she yanks them out and throws them back, especially if in her fury she invoked some protean version of a vengeance spirit to give her strength.

Narasimha11/20/2014, 7:17:59 PM3 votes

I think the bigger question would be, what would she even be doing in the League? I don't think she could be trapped so easily, and she doesn't seem like someone who would be there of her own free will. Unless someone made a deal to her against one of the other champions, but then she would just go for them outside of the League. She has nothing to gain at all.

Terra Booma11/20/2014, 8:42:46 PM3 votes

Well everyone's talking about her like she's really strong, a champion who fights for the souls of those that pledge themselves to her. But what if there's a reason she needs to make a pact, looking at her personality, let's face it. If Kalista could do this whole avenging thing at no cost she'd be all over it.

What if every soul she adds to herself increases her power? but at the cost oh her individuality. She says so in game how Kalista was her name once

Kalista is like a neverending fury, a being of vengeance, and one would think she'd be on okay terms with Varus, after all, they both want Vengeance. And some of her lines are akin to that. But there there's this one.

"You have pledged yourself to a false agent, Varus." Now I might not be the most lore savvy person, but doesn't that contradict her whole thing? Vengeance no matter the cost?

But maybe things weren't always that way. Maybe when she was alive she was a loyal, friendly, and amiable person to be around. She could have been the captain of the guard or a second in command to Hecarim or something. A decent fighter sure, but no Jax or Yi.

And then the betrayal happens, we don't know what but most of us can assume it had something to do with Hecarim, Morde, and the ruined King. At first she's angry, wants vengeance, does her whole "Murdering the everything" thing she's got going on.

And she collects more and more souls, for more and more power. But in the process she's losing herself. This way you can have herself two personalities. Kalista herself, and the many souls consuming her.

But, on the other hand, what if she found something else out? Let's look at the whole Hecarim thing. What if he was trying to STOP the ruined king? A bit of a stretch but what if he was like Kalista before being corrupted by black magics?

Or, to actually make sense, what if she killed someone who was a good person? A bandit might want vengeance on the local police, aan interesting concept would be her trying to do something blatantly evil for her whole concept.

Mostly rambling, so I might not make much sense

501st Big Mike11/21/2014, 6:01:07 AM3 votes

I think a key part of Kalista is that she doesn't actually avenge you unless you offer up your soul to her/the entity she has become. Most of the ideas I've read here, kinda make it sound like she just wants to avenge everyone she meets out of the goodness of her heart (XD quest of vengeance out of being nice #ironic). Her vengeance does not come free, offering up your soul is a pretty big price. Its cause of this it kinda reminds me of Rumpelstiltskin or making a deal with the devil.

For me, I just don't buy Kalista joining the league because she wants to avenge people in the institute, unless someone paid their soul for her to avenge the wrong doing of the League itself.

OuttaControl5611/20/2014, 6:51:21 PM2 votes

Kalista's death was certainly the tipping point, where everything went wrong. One of those moments where Kalista pleaded with all her heart, appealing to her leader's compassion and wisdom and sanity, only to be, well, betrayed.

Not at the eve of some sort of ritual, but the moment when Kalista learns of the Ruined King's true intent.

As her VO regarding the BTORK reveals that much.

Then it's pretty clear, she dies and is twisted by grief and fury and righteousness into the specter we see today.

I could imagine seeing the lore story expand, as the wife spends time with Kalista as they hunt for her family's killer. Kalista slowly reveals her last and tells her story. Would be cool.

Rafael Merlo11/24/2014, 8:19:57 AM2 votes

Very good work, folks. Maybe some Red from the Art Team will see this and try to discuss it with the Narrative Team, and Riot itself will know how un-Riot they are and began an internal evaluating proccess from there.

Junkο11/24/2014, 7:37:13 PM2 votes

I would love hearing her judgment. They are about a champions pass and their worst moments in life, we know nothing about Kalista's past aside from theories atm and her worst moment of life would probably be being betrayed.

Mazianos12/3/2014, 7:41:02 AM2 votes

nation-state things do a pact with kalista, so she enters the IoW ... oh, Forgot about the retcon

Clad in Plaid11/23/2014, 11:28:28 PM1 votes

Non-existant. There is nothing to judge champions anymore. Rather than having a reason for fighting, we now have this smash bros style fight club where people kill each other without purpose.

The Soulforged12/9/2014, 6:12:00 AM1 votes

Took five minutes to write an observation as to what looking at her brings up.

Observation Kalista walks forward, her legs moving in perfect unison, her eyes trained forward, her arms waving gently. She stops at the doors, her eyes continue to stare forward. Her eyes seem dead, lacking emotion, yet her eyebrows seem to paint a picture her eyes attempt to hide. The hairs above the eyes that have cried of anger and sorrow are so full of emotion. She takes a breathe, pushing the door open as she does so.

ll Tolack ll11/27/2014, 8:23:08 PM1 votes

From what I see of Kalista, she's practically a Spirit of Vengance (DA:A anyone? :P) Seriously though, she seems like someone who could only join a faction roster if she takes the soul of a champion that has been betrayed. Basically, if a faction betrays another faction; one of the champions (or if you want to save the soul of the champion, 'kill' a summoner, or a NPC officer, that has suffered from the betrayal and seeks vengeance.) Of course, you would only be able to use her in the vengeance conflict. Afterwards, she'd disappear like a merc. Although, contrary to her ultimate, the Kalista promo video shows her taking vengeance for a soul already dead, though recent. That could allow you to involve Kalista easier if a betrayal causes a lot of deaths (Riven, you need an angry adc to help you screw over Zaun? Give her your soul, and you'd be able to cause more of a fuss. Honestly though, you're already strong enough. Keep your soul.)

Tbh, I would not be surprised at how easily you could get Kalista on your roster (if you're up for the consequences). If Kalista bound herself with a Noxian (vs Void or Demacia [or even Zaun if they're like Riven]), an Ionian (vs Noxus or Zaun), a Demacian (vs Noxus, Void, Zaun, or Freljord [Those Boar Riders tho]. Yikes, Revenge and Justice are two sides of the same coin, I swear.), ect. You understand what I'm saying.

I hope this perspective helps with character building for the Judgement and for Factions. Good luck!